Am I missing something?

It seems virtually always to be the case that those with the greatest talent are inevitably the most humble, as their greatest concern is the work itself, and not their own egos. So what happens is that they don't promote or push themselves for fear of being crass or aggressive. How can you be a great artist, after all, unless you're sensitive and aware?

I've had yet another falling out with the idiot writer/director of the film I've been working on over the past 6 months. He's ended up sending me a tirade of insults (none of which have been witty, articulate or clever, I might add) and they really tell me "where he's coming from" as a person.

Thing is, he's not much good at what he's done. But the key thing is, he's done it. And the second thing is, he's proud of it, or doesn't care too much who he treads on to make the film.

He reminds me somewhat of a bulldozer trampling across a park, intending to build a building. Everything he's trampling over has potential, and beauty, and history, and subtlety, but his singleminded, broad, crass actions are just ignoring all that. He only sees what he wants to see and, although there'll be something at the end of it: some road or building, or skyscraper; and lots of people will look at it and comment on it's size and brightness and how it stands out against everything else; nobody will see what could have been had he bothered to be careful, and listen to others, and be more aware.

And so bullies make their noise, and the aggressive win, and marketing people push second or third rate, pointless products with clever advertising, and the world becomes that bit more crass.

Am I missing something?

I long to write a screenplay that rips through the bullshit and stands for something better than the kind of crap we get in films so much in America: that loud, overblown, pushy, meaningless crap that The Public has been so numbed to that it doesn't even realise it expects it.

But I have so little faith in myself to muster the enthusiasm to carry through what's needed - ie be aggressive enough in The Market - to make something that's good and yet at the same time not be a complete prick in the making and selling of it.

Does there have to be a compromise, I wonder?